Since the launch of Go Blue Ridge Travel, the same question has been asked: “What are you? Are you a database visitor website, a tourism association, a destination marketing organization?" As founder and owner of Go Blue Ridge Travel, it has been a difficult question to answer because this entity I launched has spent the last eight years evolving.

From a historical viewpoint, Go Blue Ridge Travel was launched in 2011 by Encore Event Partners, LLC, an event branding consultant company to serve as a database website for regional travel for the wedding industry. Encore Event Partners, LLC managed event locations and also was the producer of the Blue Ridge Bridal Shows. Our bridal clientele complained about the lack of a regional tourism site for the Shenandoah Valley. Thus Go Blue Ridge Travel was launched.

Go Blue Ridge Travel (commonly referred to as GoBRT) has transitioned from this tourism database to a marketing community of members who integrate together on different marketing campaigns. From one website, GoBRT now has three websites and will launch in 2019 a new website for VA Kids Trail promoting multi-generational family travel.

For the past five years, GoBRT has hosted an annual marketing summit providing members with the latest in digital marketing trends and changes affecting them. The GoBRT community members have asked for more digital marketing services to be provided. Based on these requests, Encore Event Partners, LLC transitioned to a new company in 2018: Encore Elite Partners (EEP). This transition has included a change in staffing with the EEP team specializing in digital content development, social media strategy development, and research and stats analytics. We have found not only our strength, but our niche by promoting partners’ events, creating opportunities for collaboration, and establishing a sense of business-to-business community.

2018 was a strong growth year for EEP in terms of membership, event turnout, and social media performance:

Not only does EEP have our own 14 personal Social Media Channels, we believe that the community is "Better Together." The EEP Community has over 50 partners and together we share a total reach of over 1.5 million followers!